CAPX: dropbox.com/s/kax5ocp33oc7wfc/OpPAS%20v2-5.capx

Look under the HUD event sheet, starting at line 13 under the "Thought" Text comment line.

I'm wanting to create a typewriter effect for my text, then, after a short delay, delete that text in the same order.

The

The Scirra

The Scirra Bros

The Scirra Bros are awesome!

Of course, all that above would be typed out one letter at a time.

Then, the same message would be deleted one letter at a time in the same way it was typed...

cirra Bros are awesome!

s are awesome!

some!

The above was shown in time lapse for illustrative purposes. <img src="smileys/smiley17.gif" border="0" align="middle" /> <img src="smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Thanks to Ashley's example, I can get the typing effect to come out just fine:

EVENT | Every tick

ACTION | Add 1 to TextCounter

SUB-EVENT || TextCounter % 5

SUB-ACTION || Set text to left(text, TextCounter/5)

I've made some modifications to this so that it checks when the text in a variable is the same length as the "master text variable" are equal, it moves to the next step. I've included that in my capx.

It's my figuring that the "deleting" of the text one letter at a time would basically be about the same as the typing. Except that I'd use the right( ) text expression rather than the left. I've encountered a number of issues...every workaround seems to create a new problem.

My ultimate goal is to have it where certain conditions - the character discovers a new item near by, he's damaged, or detects a hidden passage - will "think" (he's a robot AI) and those thoughts will appear in a text window on the HUD. So the the typewriter effect - writing and deleting -will be a nice touch to sell the theme and the character. It's just getting it to WORK...

What usually works for me is to break the process up into stages (variable TextProcess)

TextProcess = 0

+

[Condition]

==> "Type" text as describe above

When "master text" variable & "displayed text" variable are equal

==> Set TextProcess => 1

(This is to check when the intended displayed text has fully been typed, since there will be various texts to display at any given time)

TextProcess = 1

==> Wait x seconds (this allows the text to be read by the player)

==> Set TextProcess => 2

TextProcess = 2

==> Delete text one letter at a time, left to right, just as it was originally typed

==> Set TextProcess = 0

That's the gist of what I'm trying to do. Hopefully the capx makes a little more sense and you can see what my error is.

Thank you for your time and your help/suggestions!

— - As I'm reviewing the manual for the Text, Sprite Font, and Array objects, I'm thinking you're right... I'm still faced with how to set up a process that will take a text string and break it up into its individual characters, in a sense.

Presently, with the Text and Sprite Font objects, you can append the end of the text string with additional characters. That's how I understand it.

But I was wondering if it would be possible to add a feature to both objects where you could do just as you can in Arrays, where you can insert content in the middle or beginning of a value.

Say you have a Text value of "I Scirra."

Asside from being grammatically incorrect, say you want to amend this text. You'd need a condition that could isolate a position in the string and then insert the text " love" in between the two. It would essentially look like this...

"I" --> " love" <-- " Scirra." [The --> and <-- is mean to identify the insertion of an existing text as opposed to current procedures where you can combine text strings and variables like this Variable + "Text".]

Basically, if we could take those certain events and actions that can be applied to text values within an Array and use them with the Text and Sprite Fonts, that would be so helpful.

Please let me know if I need to clarify this more. Thanks, Scirra Bros!

KFII - Good points, sir!

1. I'll definitely aim for that kind of "theatrical" presentation...something that beckons the player to take a closer look. And the SNES Mario Kart is a perfect illustration! The interactivity idea will be very simple for the purposes of my game.

2. It's not a DEEP game, at least not on the surface. And I don't plan to give too much away right at the TITLE screen. That would just be silly. LOL But you're right - I'll definitely test it on players.

cgirolet - Welcome to the C2 family, Claude!

As I'm growing in learning to use C2, as well, I find it's becoming easier to organize things by having separate event sheets for different things, just as GeometriX stated. Per my knowledge, having additional event sheets won't take up more resources, per se. Maybe the TINIEST bit if any. Feel free to add as many sheets as you need.

Beaverlicious - OH! Okay, gotcha. They don't seem to have it now, but YouTube has/had a feature that, while the video is loading with that rotating circle graphic, if you clicked IN the video window and touched one of the arrow keys, you could play a game of "Snake"...where you chase down the dot to grow longer.

ArcadEd - Gotcha. If you ever do add a title screen interaction, I look forward to what you come up with. :) You'd certainly come up with some CREATIVE stuff, I've no doubt!

ArcadEd - Maaaan, that sounds so familiar about the basketball game...was it on the NES or later consoles?

And I LOVED the Mario 64 deal! LOL SO creative! So pointless, but it was FUN!

Do you plan on adding anything along these lines to your games? Any ideas what you MIGHT do?

Beaverlicious - I haven't played any of the FIFA games... What can you do on those title screens?

My job entails a LOT of driving, so I have plenty of time to brainstorm on my game. In trying to create the emotion and atmosphere I hope to convey during the gameplay, I started thinking about the title screen. It's too early in development for me to worry about that much, but it occurred to me that it would be, in my mind, very engaging to have an "interactive" title screen. More than just some (animated) images and a few options - "start", "options", etc - but rather the player can make things happen even before he starts playing.

In the Nintendo DS game, "Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story", before you've even pressed "START", the bottom screen shows a reflection of Peach's Castle as...Bowser's Castle???...in the pool of water. The water is rippling a little. And when the player taps anywhere in the pool, the water reacts by creating more ripples. It's really simple and that's about all you can do. Yet, to me it's that interactivity even before you've actually started the game that makes it all the more fun, and I believe it can help set the mood very well.

My game is a stealth game that I hope to embed with some subtle light-hearted whimsy as my robot main character seeks "more input" after escaping his creators shortly after his AI unexpectedly becomes self-aware (think of a mixture of the "Short Circuit" and "Wall-e" movies). On the title screen, I picture a side view of my robot in a platform view (the game will be top-down) and he'll automatically wander back and forth in the restricted area, with little animations interrupting things to show a tiny bit of his character. BUT! How much fun might it be to include some hidden functions when the player presses a key and find that they can control the robot to a limited degree? What might that reveal about the game? Will there be a tiny Easter Egg before the game begins? Will there be clues to the robot's otherwise minuscule character (he is just a robot, after all...or IS he)? And if you can do that little thing on the TITLE SCREEN, what ELSE can you do before the game begins?

Those are my thoughts. What do you all think and what might you put in your game if you employed this feature?

stevefromio - No, sir, you make a LOT of sense right there. GREAT points. While I'm not too worried about C2's ability to handle a lot of objects at once, I do see the point about switching perspectives fluidly.

Colludium - Aye. I've learned just a finger-full of how Unity works, and I think the multiple camera objects feature is its best selling point.

Unity by far.

Why is that? :)